The ongoing comparison of the current administration to the Nixon administration calls for a reexamination of the scandal that brought down the latter. Befitting NeMLA’s conference location, this panel seeks to reexamine classic and contemporary depictions of Watergate in order to illuminate the scandal’s connections between literature, film and American politics and culture from the seventies to the present. Accordingly, this panel seeks readings of Watergate, past and present, as depicted in film, literature and culture. Readings can also reexamine Watergate as a moment in American cultural memory and its contemporary ramifications.

On the Western’s frontier, citizens and sociopaths abound—lawmen and outlaws, gamblers and gunmen, cavalry wives and soiled doves, the Indian chiefs and buffalo scouts. How do these figures—materially or metaphorically—shape the creation, delivery and reception of the American West in film? The "good" citizen in a Western may seem easy to define, but when do some portrayals of citizenship succeed, inspiring audiences, while others backfire? When might the actions of sociopaths be laudable?

From #BlackLivesMatter and #TakeAKnee to #WhyIStayed and #MeToo, hashtag activism campaigns have continued to proliferate in recent years. Whether connected to specific in-person protests (#MarchForOurLives; #MarchForScience; #WomensMarch), consumer boycotts (#DeleteUber; #NotBuyingIt), social commentary (#OscarsSoWhite), fundraising (#IceBucketChallenge), humanitarian efforts (#BringBackOurGirls), or social justice campaigns (#OwnVoices), Twitter has become a vital tool for activism and social commentary. Unsurprisingly, academic studies of hashtag activism campaigns have likewise been on the rise as scholars grapple with the benefits and consequences of digital activism.

The Gothic Association of New Zealand and Australia (GANZA) welcomes papers for its fourth biennial conference, to be held at the Mantra on View Hotel in Surfers Paradise, Australia, on 22-23 January 2019.

GANZA is interdisciplinary in nature, bringing together scholars, students, teachers and professionals from a number of Gothic disciplines, including literature, film, music, television, fashion, architecture, and other popular culture forms. It is the aim of the Association to not only place a focus on Australasian Gothic scholarship, but also to build international links with the wider Gothic community as a whole.

With a career that spans over twenty years, João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata are one of the most creative duos in contemporary filmmaking working within the context of Portuguese cinema. Acknowledged by several film festivals (Cannes, Indie Lisboa, Locarno, New York) as major Portuguese directors, and by the Harvard Film Archive as creators whose works “reflect the multifarious history of film, from classic genres to experimental film”, both filmmakers have contributed to the growing interest in Portuguese cinema.

Messengers from the Stars is an international, peer-reviewed journal, offering academic articles, reviews, and providing an outlet for a wide range of creative work inspired by science fiction and fantasy. The 2019 issue will be dedicated to the theme